Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) to Issue $0.36 Quarterly Dividend

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.25%.

Columbia Banking System has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years. Columbia Banking System has a payout ratio of 50.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $27.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.18. Columbia Banking System has a fifty-two week low of $17.08 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 17.99%. As a group, research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.38.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions.